20 March 2019

EBA publishes updated impact of the final Basel III reforms on EU banks capital and updates on the compliance with liquidity measures in EU

Basel III capital monitoring results

The Basel III monitoring report assesses the impact on EU banks of the final revisions of credit risk, split into four sub-categories, operational risk, and leverage ratio frameworks, as well as of the introduction of the aggregate output floor. It also quantifies the impact of the new standards for market risk (FRTB) and credit valuation adjustments (CVA).

Overall, the results of the Basel III capital monitoring exercise, based on data as of 30 June 2018, show that European banks' minimum Tier 1 capital requirement would increase by 19.1% at the full implementation date (2027). The impact of the risk-based reforms is 25.4%, of which the leading factors are the output floor (8.0%) and operational risk (5.5%). 

The fact that leverage ratio is currently the constraining (i.e. the highest) Tier 1 requirement for some banks in the sample but will not be as constraining under the final Basel III, explains why part of the increase in the risk-based capital metric (-6.2%) is not to be accounted for as an actual increase in the overall Tier 1 requirement. This offsetting effect (-6.2%) is attributed to the leverage ratio contribution to the total impact.

To comply with the new framework, EU banks would need EUR 39.0 billion of additional total capital, of which EUR 24.2 billion of Tier 1 capital.

The current report provides a high-level impact assessment of final Basel III reforms. In parallel, the EBA is working on a more detailed report on the impact of the reforms in response to the European Commission's Call for Advice. This report will be based on data of the same reference date (June 2018) but on an expanded sample of banks. The latter report will also cover the Pillar II requirements rather than Pillar I requirements only as in the current report.

EBA report on liquidity measures

The semi-annual update of the EBA report on liquidity measures shows that EU banks have continued to improve their compliance with the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR). At the reporting date of 30 June 2018, EU banks' average LCR was 146%. The aggregate gross shortfall amounted to EUR 22.5 billion corresponding to four banks that monetised their liquidity buffers during times of stress. A more in-depth analysis of potential currency mismatches in LCR levels, suggests that banks tend to hold significantly lower liquidity buffers in some foreign currencies, in particular US dollar.

Press release

Report on liquidity measures

Basel III monitoring exercise report

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